65

I challenge you, KenKen, to write this review without using the “J” word… the J word that comes before Park… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! We are in the era of the daddy day care genre, the escort mission time period. We have The Last of Us, Mandolorian, Antman 3, etc. all franchises that have protagonists on a mission to deliver somebody’s child, never their own child.. hmm. This here is more of the same.

I am very upset here. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 2 talented writers, big fan of their work (A Quiet Place franchise) but they missed a big opportunity here. 65 is about a space pilot who is transporting cargo through space to another destination who is knocked off course by an asteroid and crash lands on a planet… that there is where they should have left it. Instead, in the marketing material its revealed that this mysterious planet is in fact planet Earth. This plot point could have been some super deluxe cataclysmic reveal at the end of the movie. I was so disappointed. Wasted tool! Let’s stay on topic… our hero has left behind on his home planet his wife and daughter who is ill and he’s taken this job to come up with the funds for her treatment. Whilst on the mission his daughter actually passes so he’s not your happy kind of hero (insert Joel here). The cargo he’s carrying are actually people in a cryo state and as he crashes some of them pass away and then there’s the one survivor (insert Ellie). As per the trailers they are ravaged and stalked by dinosaurs because this all takes place in the past 65 MILLION YEARS AGO! It still hurts that this wasn’t revealed as some plot twist but lets keep moving…

It’s a very small cast with some decent performances, just feel they weren’t fully utilised. Adam Driver was the bland super skilled soldier with little back story and we have Young Gamora who is just an innocent girl who speaks a foreign language and just wants to be reunited with her family. The language barrier I guess was used to try and have these 2 characters connect beyond simply just talking it out. It’s a good tool that usually works but this time it fell short. There was too far of a disconnect between the characters. I don’t know if it’s the story or the actors chemistry, possibly both. Perhaps the pacing of the whole movie was just rushed. The scene transitions just hopped around so much. Of course he is to use the loss of his daughter as a driver to connect to this strange girl. To do that there’s a series of flashbacks and devices used but yet as the audience there was little care. Some how some way this cargo handler just so happens to be a super soldier with amazing traversal knowledge… all on an unknown planet. This was poorly written, with a lack of character development and no sense of discovery.

With a bit more attention to detail they could have used this unknown planet to create the suspense, realisation and just added that layer of terror.

Instead we are force fed random jump scares and some easily dealt with encounters. Think of this as terrible video game in which you just run and gun with the one same gun which just so happens to work on every, lets deep it here, ALIEN. There’s a few feel good scenes where you see their relationship blossom a bit but not enough to keep you locked in.

A good showing here is the variety and design of the new dinosaurs. Unlike in (zip) Park they brought some fresh ideas. They made for some good battle ideas but they were just too easy to get out of. Even with these new objectives the finale was not good, very anti climatic however with a surprising finish.

65 had so much potential but it didn’t reach its prospected heights. It’s another project in which most the funding went into the trailers rather than the movie development unfortunately. With a bit more runtime with actual good story plots I reckon there was a mega blockbuster here to be unlocked. Regrettably I took the hit for you guys… luckily y’all can wait for streaming dispatch… You are most welcome!

Did you enjoy this movie? No “J” word used!! What franchise do you prefer your dinos from? Should we just skip to the 3rd Quiet place? React and comment below…